Review: "New" Green Papaya & WickedChili
- Restaurant name : Green Papaya & Wicked Chili
- Location : Creekside, NW
I heard Green Papaya was bought out and had new owners. I drove by a few weeks ago and noticed the 'Wickedchili.ca' sign up beside the original Green Papaya sign. We went there for dinner.
The restaurant is now a Vietnamese restaurant & and indian buffet all in one. You sit down and can either go upto the indian buffet, or order from the viet menu. I shit you not.
I had refused to go back to Green Papaya before, however with the new indian buffet & new owners I thought i'd give it another shot as odd as it sounded.
- Food rating - Vietnamese Food : 1/5
I ordered a large "special" pho. When I got it, my first taste of the broth was a bit bland, but oddly sweet. I asked for some straight fish sauce to deal with the blandness. I tasted the broth again and then realized that there must've been a shitload of MSG in it. It was confirmed when I was ridiculously thristy part way thru my meal. I could not believe how much MSG there must've been in there too.
The pho was flavourless, however there was a fair amount of meat and meatballs. None of the tendon/tripe you get from 'special' pho at other places though.
I knew the dishes were clean. I could taste & smell the palmolive off my chopsticks, spoon, and the bowl. At first i thought it wasn't bad, but 1/4 thru the bowl i couldnt eat anymore - it was just worse. I left hungry because I refused to eat anything else off the menu.
Oh ya, I asked for a chili pepper - no chili peppers. wtf? The name is the place is 'Green Papaya / wicked chili' and there's a picture of a chilli pepper in the name of the place:
Cost: 10.75
- Food rating - Indian Buffet : According to my wife, 2/5. according to the guy behind us (more on this later) 0/5
My wife took some naan, butter chicken, curry beef, and something with chickpeas in it.
The first 2 pieces of naan were old, stale, and hard. The next few were decent & the chickpea thing was good. That was the only redeeming quality of the meal.
She said the butter chicken tasted like tomato soup with cream in it. The beef in the curry beef extremely tough.
She had a bubble tea as well. She thought it was good.
Cost for Buffet: 14.95
Cost for Bubble Tea: 5.50
- Ambience : 4/5
Fresh coat of paint with a nice design. It looked good and warm. It was very clean too. Didn't see the bathroom though.
1 point lost because of the guy who made a scene about how shitty his butter chicken was (more below).
- Service : 2/5
There were 2 people working the 8 tables that had people at them. Almost all of them were buffet tables.
Only came by once to ask how our food was - 20 minutes after we got our food. She didn't even come by to refill my water (very needed considering the MSG in the pho) until then.
The guy who was complaining about how shitty his butterchicken was, started with "I've been waiting for someone to come by and ask how the meal was - however that never happened. I had to ask you to come by. I want to speak to the manager now".
Final thoughts:
Well, fuck - I thought i'd give them another chance. Unfortunately, nothing seems to be as good as Pho Dau Bo. Even the service is better there than at wickedchili/green papaya. That, and the ridiculous price of the shitty food.
Do yourself a favour, don't eat there.
Quote
